


Cold Paws, Warm Heart

by Beltenebra



Category: Macdonald Hall - Gordon Korman
Genre: Boys In Love, Boys Kissing, Christmas Fluff, Established Relationship, Future Fic, Long-Distance Relationship, M/M, Mentions of Skype sex, chinchilla from hell
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-12-08
Updated: 2018-12-08
Packaged: 2019-09-14 00:49:49
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,207
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16902960
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Beltenebra/pseuds/Beltenebra
Summary: After a semester abroad, Bruno is finally coming home for Christmas and he might have brought an extra special gift.





	Cold Paws, Warm Heart

**Author's Note:**

  * For [remrose](https://archiveofourown.org/users/remrose/gifts).



> I hope you like this!! I love writing holiday fluff so I wanted to give you something sweet and silly. It was a pleasure to write this for you, Happy Holidays! 
> 
> The chinchilla in this fic is 100% based on a real life chinchilla that my good friend owns and she is... something else. :3

It was only the first week of December and already they’d had a few serious snow storms. Boots glared at their old thermostat and contemplated putting on another pair of socks. It had only taken about four days into the Fall semester before the quiet in their usually shared apartment went from refreshing to slightly oppressive. Boots had taken to putting on podcasts as background noise while he studied as a substitute for the habitual stream of chatter he was used to filtering out. But what he _really_ missed with Bruno gone was the extra heat. There was no Bruno pulling him into an impromptu snuggle on the couch while they studied or spooning him in bed, keeping his feet warm.

He gave in with a sigh, nudging the dial up a few degrees _and_ grabbing a blanket to lay across his lap as he settled back in front of his laptop. As soon as the clock clicked over to ten pm the cheerful polyphonic sound informed him of an incoming video call.

“Bruno,” he greeted the smiling face dominating his screen. “How’s Pennsylvania?” 

“Not as cold as Toronto,” Bruno crowed. “Looks like it’s snowing again up there!” 

“Yeah, rub it in, jerk,” Boots responded but he couldn’t help but smile at least a little. Bruno often had that effect on him.

The next half an hour flew by as they caught each other up on the last few days - how classes were going, Boots’s looming end of semester lab project, Bruno’s continuing feud with his Early Education TA, and the latest stories about his eccentric American roommate.

Boots had just finished filling Bruno in on his mother’s holiday shopping because she insisted on telling Boots about it in excruciating detail and Bruno was genuinely interested in that stuff, the weirdo, when Bruno heaved a deep sigh. 

“Does it feel like these three months have been like, _really_ long?” 

“The _longest_ ,” Boots replied with feeling. It had been a great idea for Bruno to do an exchange semester at an American university. He was taking a really exciting specialty class and getting to study in a new environment and they had agreed that they should at least try living apart for a while to see if they could. And on paper it was still a great idea. It was also just… a little more difficult and a bit more lonely than Boots had anticipated.

“But it’s the beginning of December,” Boots continued. “You’ll be back soon.” 

“If we live through the next few weeks of classes,” Bruno agreed. 

Bruno allowed them exactly thirty seconds of wallowing. Boots could visibly see him shifting gears, moving from slightly glum to mischievous in the space of a breath. 

“So…” Bruno’s smile was the one that usually meant the best kind of trouble for Boots. “What are you wearing?” 

He couldn’t help it, Boots burst out laughing, sputtering into the cup of coffee he had clearly picked up to sip at the most inopportune time. “Bruno. This is a _video_ chat. You can see exactly what I’m wearing.” 

Bruno laughed because he was laughing, a sweet throaty chuckle that sent shivers down Boots’s spine. “Oh come on, where’s the romance in that?! I’m going for a specific atmosphere here. Besides, what you’re actually wearing is not really the most conducive to getting down.” 

What he was wearing was ratty grey sweatpants, the thickest wool socks he owned and a slightly lumpy, violently orange sweater that was the best byproduct of Bruno’s sophomore year knitting phase. He claimed that he only kept it around because it happened to be the most comfortable sartorial nightmare ever. Truthfully it was very comfortable but it also reminded him of Bruno - his nose scrunched in concentration over his knitting needles, the proud beaming grin he wore when he’d handed it over… but nobody had to know that.

“It’s too cold in here to take anything off,” Boots sulked.

“You can just do it under your clothes,” Bruno teased, knowing that even discussing Skype sex in the most oblique terms was enough to make Boots blush. “Or just tell me what to do and you can watch.” 

Just the thought of it was making Boots feel warmer. Maybe the sweater would come off after all. It had been a long, frustrating week… “Ok fine, Mr. Exhibitionist. Off with your shirt.” 

Bruno grinned like he’d won the lottery, “That’s the spirit, Melvin, we’ll- Ack! Tiny, freezing paws!” 

Bruno had only pulled the hem of his shirt up a little, exposing a scant few centimeters of tan abs when a small ball of fluff landed squarely in his lap, making him yelp. 

“Ah, hello there, Hellbeast.”

The hellbeast was Bruno’s roommate’s pet chinchilla. Boots had never encountered one before Bruno became the de facto second caretaker of the thing in September. By all accounts on the internet, chinchillas were sweet, fluffy rodents who could be posed with miniature furniture having the cutest imaginable tea parties or persuaded into tiny harnesses to ride around on their owner’s shoulders. In their actual real life experience, chinchillas were fluffy rodents who got stuck under every possible piece of furniture, chewed wires (the deadlier the better), and quacked judgmentally when they didn’t like what you had on TV. It was, of course, possible it was just this chinchilla. This particular chinchilla was, in fact, evil incarnate.

Which probably went a long way toward explaining Bruno’s affection for it, come to think of it. 

“Aw, I almost forgot you were out,” Bruno cooed at the fuzzy interloper. “Look, Boots, he wants to say hi!” Bruno scooped up the chinchilla and held it up to the screen where it leveled a look at Boots that indicated that he knew exactly what he had interrupted and Boots should be ashamed of himself and also, that he hated him.

“Prince Murderball,” Boots acknowledged with a small nod. 

The names Boots thought up for the chinchilla always made Bruno laugh so it wasn’t a total loss. Even though he had been initially a bit hesitant about Bruno’s plan he was cranky about it being disrupted. The chinchilla, who was not actually named Murderball, or Fluffbrains, or Deathmouse, but Yuri, looked smug as Bruno cuddled him close to his still-clothed chest.

“Tell ya what, Boots, I’ll be putting Yuri back in his cage in an hour. We’ll both get cozy in bed and I’ll call you.”

He must have looked dubious because Bruno gave him one of his convincing smiles. “It’ll be good, there will be sweaters and warm socks and no cognitive dissonance!”

“Ugh, fine. What kind of terrible pet owner is your useless roommate anyway? It seems like you’re the only one who ever takes care of that living dust bunny.” 

Bruno’s amusement dimmed a little, “Yeah, he is kind of… I don’t think he really understood what he was getting into when he got Yuri. He might have been trying to impress a girl? It’s not ideal.”

Now Boots felt bad. “Well, they’re both lucky that you’re around to pick up the slack then. Go on and have your chinchilla buddy TV time or whatever. I’ll be looking forward to that phone call.” 

Bruno set the chinchilla down on the floor before leaning with a wink, his voice suddenly low and a little wicked, “To be continued, Melvin.” 

~~~

There was still a week and half of finals and Boots was going insane. He not only had a big project left to finish but there were also three tests between him and freedom and he wasn’t entirely sure he was going to make it out alive.

Normally he would find Bruno to distract him for a little bit - to drag him out to a movie, or badger him into helping make dinner, some time-limited activity that would give Boots just the break he needed to get back to work with a clear head. But no Bruno meant that it was much more challenging to tell his overclocked brain to just chill out for thirty minutes. He would call Bruno except that he knew his boyfriend had just as much work as he did and if they didn’t stick to the schedule they agreed on, they’d both be sunk. He would talk to Bruno tomorrow and he’d be home in two weeks. They could do this. 

He was just steeping his third cup of tea, telling himself that it was better for him than endless cups of coffee though logically he knew it was about the same amount of caffeine, when he heard a knock at the door. It was just past ten so while it wouldn’t be unheard of a friend or classmate stopping by, it would be unusual. Boots spent a long couple of seconds wondering if he could get away with ignoring whoever it was but it was late and cold and it would be kind of a dick move.

Another three seconds later he was happy he had a decent moral compass because standing on the porch, face gently washed with moonlight reflecting off of the fresh snow, was Bruno. With his huge duffle bag slung over his shoulder, dark curls just escaping the edge of his toque, Bruno who was supposed to be in America until next week. 

Boots threw his arms around him, squeezing tight enough to wring a soft ‘ooof!’ from Bruno. He buried his nose in Bruno’s cold neck, smelling very faintly of clean air and pine. “If this is a hallucination brought on by finals stress, it’s a really good one. A+ for elaborate sensory input.”

“I’m afraid you’re perfectly sane, Boots. I’m the real deal.” 

“How are you here so early,” he asked, the question slightly muffled. He should probably step back so Bruno could come inside and they could talk properly but Bruno’s arms were around his waist, holding him close. They’d move in a second, really. Any minute now. 

He could hear the smile just overtop of the tiredness in Bruno’s voice. “I had the option to take some finals early so I did that.” 

“That must have been hellish.” 

“Eh, it was fine? It was worth it to be here now.”

Boots finally tore himself away, holding Bruno’s shoulders and peering at him, making sure he was ok. “You look a little nervous, what’s up?” 

Bruno shifted, eyes flicking down for a second. “Well, there is one thing I didn’t mention.” 

“Besides practically killing yourself to finish all of your finals work early?” 

“Yeah, besides that… I um, kind of brought home a guest. Well, more permanent than that, a pet.” He waved a hand to indicate the small pet carrier resting at his feet. 

It would have been fun to keep Bruno on the hook, pretending to be obtuse until Bruno had to spell things out clearly but Boots couldn’t help but laugh, “What day of Christmas is the chinchilla gift? I don’t recall that being part of the song.” 

Bruno’s shoulders visibly sagged with relief. “You’re amused. Really? I mean, ok, that’s a better reaction than furious but--”

Boots took a step back into the apartment so he could swing the door open for Bruno to see the large, elaborate rodent cage he’d set up in the corner of their living room two days ago. 

Bruno’s smile lit up his entire face - Boots resisted the urge to blink at the glow. “How are you just, like, the actual best?” 

“Come on, you kept dropping hints about how your crappy roommate was never around and thinking about finding a new home for him. I’ve met you. Your roommate did actually give him to you, right? You didn’t steal him?” 

Bruno laughed delightedly, which Boots noted was _not strictly speaking, an answer_ but he let it slide for now. 

He smirked and gently tugged Bruno through the door by his scarf, waiting impatiently for him to put the carrier back down so he could steal a kiss. “Welcome home.” If Bruno’s everything else was freezing, at least his mouth was warm. They got lost for a few moments in a long, lingering kiss that made Boots realize exactly how long three months could feel. 

Before they could get too distracted though, a loud, displeased quack emanated from the carrier and Bruno cracked up, laughing into their kiss. Boots nudged the carrier very gently with his foot, frowning down at it. “Welcome home to you too, I guess, puffball. And merry Christmas.” 

Bruno pulled him back for a fierce hug that made Boots’s breath catch or maybe that was Bruno’s voice warm and low and impossibly fond in his ear, “It certainly will be.”

Three days later Boots wasn’t so sure. The chinchilla had already shorted out two strings of Christmas lights by chewing on the wires and made several serious attempts to chew the glasses right off of Boots’s face. 

Bruno was no help, cackling helplessly on the couch, taking endless pictures. 

“We’ll see if you survive until New Years, Yuri,” Boots muttered darkly. Yuri responded by hopping up on his shoulder and putting his small icy paws on his neck. Boots sighed. He’d just have to get Bruno to warm him up again later.


End file.
